Bill Gates' daughter pays all on her own

Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe doesn't ask for money – she is determined to earn it on her own! Together with her former Stanford roommate Sophia Kianni, Phoebe Gates co-founded the startup Phia – an AI-powered shopping app and browser extension that helps users compare prices for fashion items and find both new and secondhand alternatives.

Phia emerged from the founders' shared passion for sustainable fashion and their desire to make online shopping more transparent and eco-friendly. The app scans over 40,000 online stores, allowing users to discover better deals with a single click. Phia partners with retailers and earns commissions on referred sales – a model inspired by established affiliate marketing strategies.

So far, the founders have raised $850,000 in seed funding from investors like Soma Capital, Stanford University, and high-profile figures such as Kris Jenner and Sara Blakely. Notably, Bill Gates, Phoebe’s father, did not invest but provided advisory support. He told Page Six: »I would have been holding her to short-term metrics and doing business reviews, which I would have found hard.«

To share their experiences as young founders, Gates and Kianni launched the podcast »The Burnouts« on Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network. In the show, they openly discuss the challenges and triumphs of building their startup, offering a candid look at entrepreneurial life. In one episode, Phoebe revealed that working on Phia made her feel insecure as a »nepo baby« with privilege – which fueled her determination to prove herself.

MK